Listen up, it’s the Kinross Karcophony Orchestra
A rousing Armistice Day concert in Perth Concert Hall will remember the Great War in songs and stories, with contributions from the world as a whole recording the experiences of soldiers from India the Caribbean and Africa.
No Man’s Land on Sunday, November 11 will feature Blue Rose Code, Raghu Dixit, Kris Drever, ESKA, Karine Polwart and Declan O’Rourke.
In a one-off coming together for the celebration of the armistice, they will be supported by the Made in Perthshire show house band, which is made of Ross Ainslie (pipes, whistles), Seonaid Aitken (violin), Alice Allen (cello), Graeme Stephen (guitar), Signy Jakobsdottir (drums, percussion), Dave Milligan (piano), Ben Nicholls (bass) and Patsy Reid (fiddle, viola).
No Man’s Land will tell stories from a diverse range of viewpoints, from different sides of the conflict and its aftermath. Expect familiar songs though not necessarily performed how you’re used to hearing them - and some not so well-known, some have been specially written for the show.
Tickets cost £27.50, available from Horsecross Arts Box Office on 01738 621031 or visit www.horsecross.co.uk Kinross Karcophony Orchestra will be giving a grand performance at Loch Leven Campus on Wednesday night that includes the theme from Thunderbirds.
A mixed group of musicians started meeting in Kinross in April and before they knew it, an orchestra was born.
Now the KKO is blasting into new worlds with a rendition of the Suite from The Planets by Gustav Holst (arranged by Johnnie Vinson) and Thunderbirds by Barry Gray (arranged by Richard Ling).
This will be KKO’s second public performance, with the 25 or so members having worked on these popular pieces over past weeks, plus Fanfare and Flourishes by James Curnow and The Lord of the Dance by Ronan Hardiman (arranged by Johnnie Vinson) .
Founder member Bouwien Bennet explained how the orchestra has snowballed with enthusiastic Kinross residents eager to blow, blast and strum: “This public performance will be our tenth rehearsal. The orchestra has been a great success, we have a bit of everything - oboe, French horn, flute, alto and also tenor sax, violin, and lots of brass. We are old, young, experienced and not so.
“The main thing is everybody looks forward to our rehearsals and it is a lot of fun.
“Our conductor Dougie Flower has brought us along from the start. But he is off for the last two sessions because he’s working as musical director at Pitlochry Festival Theatre for their festive show. In his place we are lucky to have Tom Smith, who will be conducting for our performance at the campus on November 14.”
The concert on Wednesday night is at Loch Leven Community Campus, 8pm. Entry is free. Kinross-shire Local Events Organisation has arranged a variety of other events for its Winter Festival through November and December, see www.kleo.org.uk
ESKA tells the story of the women left behind Kinross Karcophony Orchestra